Online Merchants Face Higher UPS Rates in 2015

As with the certainty of death and taxes, online merchants can count on shipping costs to rise each year, even as consumers increasingly expect to receive free shipping.

Like clockwork, UPS is raising rates for 2015, and sellers who use the shipping carrier will see rates rise by an average of 4.9 percent. That’s on top of UPS’s previously announced plan to add dim weight pricing next year, which will also raise the cost of certain packages.

UPS released its new rates for 2015 this week. “UPS Ground, Air, International, UPS Freight, and UPS air freight rates within and between the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico will increase an average of 4.9 percent,” according to the announcement.

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In June, UPS announced it would apply dimensional weight pricing to all UPS Ground services and UPS Standard to Canada packages. That news followed rival FedEx’s announcement that it would do the same for its ground service.

The US Postal Service is capitalizing on the fact that its two competitors are switching to Dim Weight pricing through an ad campaign it began running over the summer.

UPS rate changes take effect on December 29, 2014, and the carrier said customers can download the 2015 UPS Rate and Service Guide on that date.